Stars In My Heart

Soon to be twenty-one years old, the lovely red-haired Gisela Musgrave is tormented and oppressed by her cruel and jealous stepmother until one day riding with the local hunt, Gisela rushes to the aid of a beautiful woman who has fallen from her horse. Everyone but Gisela notices her striking resemblance to this Noblewoman, who reveals herself to be none other than the exquisite Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, whose beauty is renowned throughout Europe and who is staying incognito in the English countryside for the hunting season. And then suddenly Gisela's life is transformed by two pieces of shocking news. First, that she is not truly her father's daughter, but the daughter of her mother's lover before she married and secondly that her true father's identity makes her the Empress's half-sister! Groomed in her new-found status, Gisela agrees to exploit her likeness by pretending to be the Empress at an invitation to stay with an ageing Lord, while the Empress herself continues to indulge her love of hunting. But on arriving at the Lord's most impressive Castle, Gisela is greeted by his dashingly handsome yet imperious heir, Lord Quenby. And so begins an all-powerful love that seems doomed to oblivion even before it sprang so unexpectantly into being -

Barbara Cartland was the world's most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages. As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery. She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation. Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world. She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven. Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author. Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed. Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone's life.